Leave of Absence (FMLA/NJFLA/Non-FMLA)

The EOSD leave process requires employees to apply for a leave of absence if the employee will be out of work more than 3 consecutive days for personal or family illness. When an employee is out of work for more than 3 consecutive days The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may be available. Employees are required to notify their supervisor/location administrator of the absence, enter the absence(s) into Frontline and submit a request for FMLA via the eFMLA portal. Failure to notify the supervisor/location administrator or LRES could lead to employment concerns including job abandonment processing.

FMLA/NJFLA may be taken on a continuous or intermittent (sporadic absences) basis.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that provides eligible employees with up to 12-weeks of job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons such as:

Serious health conditions
To care for a family member with a serious health condition
To care for a newborn (birth, adoption, foster care)
Qualifying exigency & Military caregiver leave

The New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) is a state law that allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of job protected leave during a 24-month period for any of the following reasons:

To bond with a child within 1 year of the child’s birth or placement for adoption or foster care;
To care for a family member or equivalent who has a serious health condition or has been isolated or quarantined because of suspected exposure to a communicable disease during a state of emergency

While these laws are unpaid leaves, the EOSD allows employees to utilize their own applicable leave accruals to continue their pay (to the extent available). It is the employee's responsibility to enter their absences into Frontline using the applicable absence reasons. The "Docked/Unpaid" option should be used once the applicable leave accrual has been exhausted.

EOSD uses an electronic FMLA leave management system (eFMLA) that will enable you to request leave by completing and submitting an electronic FMLA leave request form. Once you submit your request, we will be notified by email confirming that you have submitted your leave request.

As part of the required procedure, Step 2 must be completed in order for us to proceed with evaluating your request.

An email from the eFMLA portal will be sent to you; please be sure to check your inbox as well as your spam or junk folder in case it was misdirected.

Please note that failure to complete this portion may delay the processing of your FMLA request. Additionally, if the request is not completed within two weeks of your initial notice of intent, your request may be considered withdrawn or expired due to inactivity.

You will receive your FMLA-related notices and forms by email and will be prompted to set up your account in the eFMLA system. Emails will be from [email protected]. Once you set up your account, you will be able to access your notices and forms, and view your FMLA leave usage and balance. Any required medical certification form can be forwarded to your or your covered family member's health care provider electronically, who can then complete and submit the form electronically. If the health care provider will not complete the certification form electronically, you may print the certification form or fax it directly to the health care provider from the eFMLA system without using a fax machine.

For guidance with the request process, click here.

If your request is for intermittent leave and is pending board approval or has already been board approved, you will be required to complete and submit the Intermittent FMLA Absence Report for each absence to be covered as IFMLA. All submitted absences will be reviewed and authorized by LRES. Only authorized IFMLA absences will be withheld from the employee's attendance calculation for evaluation purposes.

FMLA and NJFLA Fact Sheets

Definition of a Serious Medical Condition

Return-to-Work (RTW) Procedure

Prior to your return date, the employee must provide LRES with a medical note clearing them to return with the following criteria. Failure to provide a note with all required information will result in the delay in the employee's clearance. Notes may be emailed directly to [email protected]

RTW Note must include:

the full date range of the absence
the date the employee is being cleared to return to work
notation that the employee may return to "Full Duty" or "Without Restrictions"

If restrictions are required, they must be thoroughly outlined on the RTW note for consideration
The note with restrictions must be received by LRES at least one (1) week in advance for review